A family of five people were killed today when a herd of wild elephants rampaged through a village in south-eastern Bangladesh.

The dead, including two children, were asleep in their thatched hut when the elephants trampled them to death at Bashkhali village in Chittagong district, said police chief Zahirul Islam.

Islam said a herd of about 12 elephants had been foraging in a nearby forest when they approached the village, 136 miles south-east of national capital, Dhaka, and destroyed more than a dozen huts.

Villagers used fire-lit torches to scare the pachyderms away, he said.

It was not clear what caused the rampage. Several hundred elephants make their homes in Bangladesh's tropical forests, but their habitat has been reduced in recent years due to human development.

An 81-year-old Florida man is in a critical condition after he was stabbed in the chest by a stingray that jumped into his boat.

James Bertakis was boating with his adult granddaughter and her friend yesterday afternoon when the rare attack occurred.

The women were able to steer the boat back to Bertakis' home in Lighthouse Point where they called authorities.

Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44, died on September 4 when a stingray's barb pierced his chest while he was filming a TV show on the Great Barrier Reef.

"It was a freak accident," said Lighthouse Point acting fire Chief David Donzella.

"It's very odd that the thing jumped out of the water and stung him. We still can't believe it."

Bertakis was conscious when paramedics arrived. Surgeons were able to remove some of the barb, but were not able to locate the rest and feared it may have migrated.

Bertakis suffered a closed chest wound, collapsed lung and may have to undergo open-heart surgery, rescue officials said.

The 1.5-metre wide stingray died on the boat, firefighters said.